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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My children are younger than most of their cousins on DHs side.  The older ones were nice to the younger ones until around 13/14 and then they came back to nice around 18.  Teenagers do not want to be around younger ones.  [/quote]

Yeah I don’t agree necessarily. 13 was the age where I loved baby sitting and taking care of younger ones.[/quote]

Me too. I enjoyed playing simple board games with younger kids, reading to them, brushing their hair, etc. What does your 13-year-old do for fun? She can do some modified version of that with them. (E.g. if she's into movies, plan to watch a favorite movie of hers at that age. If she's into soccer, bring a ball so they can pass it around.)

I'd also make it clear to everyone (parents, kids) that you're OK with her taking breaks from hanging out with them. After all, she's not actually being paid to babysit them. I'd make sure there is a balance between time where you hope and expect her to be with the cousins, and time when she can go relax elsewhere.

And this is also the age where she might want to start doing more with the adults. Our family plays a lot of board games, and it took a little while for some of the adults to realize that the oldest cousins might want to be included in the evening games! They weren't used to having some kids staying awake later, since all of the younger ones were in bed. Obviously your DD may not even want to hang out with the adults in the evenings, but it's something to keep in mind.[/quote]

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